The JLM event this year had to be held in a secure zone after an antisemitic incident outside the reception area last year.
Nandy told those gathered that the fight against antisemitism “cannot be your fight alone” as it was a battle “for the soul of this country”.
“There is no such thing as being neutral on racism: you are either anti-racist or you are part of the problem,” she said.
Nandy recalled how her friend and colleague Baroness Luciana Berger had told her at the height of Labour’s antisemitism crisis under Jeremy Corbyn that the battle against Jew-hate “cannot be our fight alone”.
“It was from that day on that I decided this would be my fight too, because it is our fight, it's all of our fight, because in the end it is about the right of Jewish people to live with dignity in this country.”
Thanking members who had stayed to fight antisemitism within the party, as well as those who had since returned, she said: “I think about some of the struggles that we've been through together to rid this party of the disgrace of antisemitism that was allowed to poison our politics and brought us shame like no other episode in our 100-year history.
“I think about all of you who had to go through a lot to stick with us and stay with us... I know it was really hard,” she said, adding: “I hope that you feel that you have real friends in us.”
Powell sought to reassure members of the party’s commitment to the Jewish community.
“I was determined to be here this evening to show my support, my allyship with JLM, everything you do and stand for… I want you to know that we absolutely stand shoulder to shoulder,” she said.
“The Jewish Labour movement has always represented what I consider to be a long and enduring relationship between the Labour Party and the Jewish community.
“I know we have put that relationship under a great deal of stress many times in recent years and I hope we are through that period but it's something we have worked incredibly hard to maintain... that's why I wanted to be here this evening.”
Referring to the experiences of the Jewish community in Manchester, where she represents the central constituency, Powell added: “I know it's been an incredibly difficult year”.
Powell said she had been discussing antisemitism in her role as education secretary, with the Bell Review into antisemitism in schools due to be published in the coming weeks.
Lucy Powell at the Jewish Labour Movement reception at the party's annual Liverpool conference[Missing Credit]
Describing the review as a “powerful, very important piece of work”, she pledged to work with the community “on making sure that we fully implement the recommendations”.
“We are in a generational moment here of needing to re-educate and come back together as a society because the levels of antisemitism are not just completely unacceptable, but are I believe getting out of control.”
Defeating Jew-hate, she said, “has to begin with educating the next generation”, alongside educating adults.
Powell said the prime minister was “resolute” in his commitment to tackling antisemitism. Observing that attendees “look a bit depressed – sorry about that”, she then encouraged donations to JLM, describing it as a “critical issue”.
Also addressing the reception was Wirral West MP Matthew Patrick, who called for “more light” in discussions about the Middle East and urged attendees to engage with “people that we do not always like or people we don’t always agree with”.
Sarah Sackman, the MP for Finchley and Golders Green and Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Services, reflected on the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, which will be marked next week.
Justice Minister and Golders Green and Finchley MP Sarah Sackman at the JLM reception in Liverpool[Missing Credit]
“We need that spirit of Cable Street even more today than we ever did,” she said, recalling how Jews and dockworkers came together to block the path of Oswald Mosley’s Union of Fascists.
“That is true patriotism,” she said, adding that the battle represented Britain’s values of “solidarity, openness, inclusively, not little England but actually an open Britain”.
Sackman said she hoped to return to conference in years to come “not talking about antisemitism on our streets, but talking about the way that we, as the proud inheritors of that tradition of Cable Street... we can defeat how it manifests in our societies again”.
A sign outside Labour Party conference[Missing Credit]